What Suits Just Did To Mike Is Astonishing

There are spoilers from the Season 5 finale of Suits in this article. If you haven’t watched and want the episode to be a surprise, please feel free to check out one of our other lovely articles.

If you’ve been keeping tabs on Suits, you should already know that Mike’s secret got out to the wrong people a few weeks ago. While Harvey, Jessica and co. have known Mike Ross wasn’t a real lawyer for a while, once the authorities got involved–thanks to Sheila Sacz–Mike has been treading water to stay one step ahead of a long-term jail cell. At least until this week, when he decided to take a plea deal and spend two years in white collar prison.

That’s right, during this week’s Season 5 finale of Suits, against better advice and better long-term prospects, Mike knowingly signed a deal that would land him in jail, not understanding that the jury planned to find him not guilty. Harvey did what he could to get Mike off and almost accomplished it; unfortunately, U.S. Attorney Anita Gibbs has had a personal problem with Harvey Specter for some time and Mike met his downfall because of it. (Also because he was faking his law degree, but that’s neither here nor there.) The episode ends with Harvey Specter Litt in shambles, with Rachel and Mike broken up and with Mike going to prison. I knew Mike was in trouble, but the episode was so completely astonishing that I’m still reeling over it.

So, what the heck does this mean for Suits? Presumably, the show is going to have to figure out how to worm Mike out of prison when it returns for Season 6, right? Well, not so fast. Suits ep Aaron Korsch recently told TV Line that Suits is actually headed in a brand new direction.

There’s going to be new characters, [a return] to some humor and a new setting. Our hope is that new life has been breathed into the show.

Korsch also said he and the creative team knew they were taking a chance by actually making Mike Ross pay for his sins, and that Season 6 will be about picking up the pieces in the characters’ broken world.

The original premise of the show is gone. It’s gone in two ways. Obviously, the biggest and most important way is Mike no longer has a secret and he is going to be in prison. The other way that everything’s changed is, everybody from the firm was gone. So moving forward, we decided, ‘Let’s pick something that’s incredibly impactful. Let’s shatter everything and see how we, as writers, and our characters can pick up the pieces.’ That’s what Season 6 is going to be about.

I suppose it’s possible that at some point we will get a time jump when Suits returns to the schedule, moving ahead to a time when Mike is already out of prison. Or perhaps Harvey will find a way to get Mike Ross off? After all, Suits is ultimately a show about Mike Ross. Sure, Louis, Jessica and especially Harvey, Rachel and Donna are all important characters, but Suits is about a dude with an eidetic memory. That’s the point of the show. Or, at least it used to be. Unfortunately, the above quotes don’t go a long way to making me feel better about Mike’s prospects in the future. Season 6 sounds like it is going to be intense.

Suits has already been renewed, so we know the USA drama is going to get the chance to reassemble and tell a brand new story. Only time will tell whether that story will be compelling or not. Suffice to say, if you haven’t caught Wednesday’s episode, yet, give it a watch.